Waltham Forest is the first London Borough of Culture 2019. An exciting year-long programme of events and projects is planned with cultural partners. This features brand new commissions from world-class artists and co-creations with the local community. There will be lots of opportunities for schools and young people to participate.

16+ Volunteering

Waltham Forest will be recruiting volunteers aged 16 and above to help deliver London Borough of Culture 2019. Volunteers will be vital to ensuring that the year of culture is a success, from welcoming visitors to the borough, supporting large scale events, performing as cast members, even planting flowers! This would be valuable work experience in the Creative Industries for students, while next summer’s events will include supporting artists in delivering children’s workshops, so volunteers with teaching experience will be most welcome.

As projects are finalised and more information becomes available, there will be regular updates on the London Borough of Culture 19 Education Programme through the Hub and the wfculture web site.

Working together: a new Cultural Education Partnership for Waltham Forest for Borough of Culture 19 and beyond

Using London Borough of Culture 2019 as a catalyst, Waltham Forest has been awarded funding from A New Direction to create a model of high-quality and innovative arts provision at the heart of young people’s learning, bringing together education and arts organisations in a new sustainable partnership. Initially this will link with Borough of Culture 19 programmes with a range of workshops, resources and network and CPD events. For this we would like to establish a Cultural Education Partnership lead in every Waltham Forest Education setting. The CEP lead will be the main staff contact point within each school/college to advocate and disseminate the partnership programmes.

The Education Programme will maximise opportunities for children and young people to be excited and inspired by arts and culture, and to develop confidence as co-creators.

There will be structured opportunities throughout the year for young people to participate in free workshops and events linked to the curated artists’ programme – for example in April, the Atomic 50 experience by Blackhorse Road Workshops will offer Key Stage 2 pupils the chance to participate in an imaginative experience exploring the process of tin-making, an industry which played an important part in the borough’s history. In the autumn, the Bauhaus programme at the Wetlands and the William Morris Gallery will offer design and make opportunities to both primary and secondary pupils. In November, for Molecules on the Marshes by Zarah Hussein, every school in the borough will be provided with resources to explore the science and art linked to this ambitious installation.

We will also be encouraging and empowering teachers and those working with young people to develop and contribute their own creative responses to the year’s events through a regular programme of artist-led training. These events can be uploaded as part of the Borough of Culture programme. There will be a sustained legacy beyond 2019 to interpret and engage with the borough’s cultural heritage through this training network and with online and hands-on resources. The educators programme for LBoC19 will start formally in January and the workshop programme will start in April with Atomic 50.

Borough of Culture Artsmark and Arts Award

With bespoke support from A New Direction we will be helping more Waltham Forest schools work towards Artsmark accreditation as benchmark of best practice in arts provision. We will also encourage increased Arts Award participation through a special Waltham Forest Borough of Culture Arts Award to be available from May.

Funding

There will be a further round of grants for arts projects which schools can apply for opening on Thursday 17 January 2019. To help with this process and future project we will be developing training and a data base of local artists who want to work with schools. Artists can subscribe here.

There will be further information and training on funding and fundraising through the Cultural Education Partnership CPD programme. So if you are a Waltham Forest educator and would like more information about the Borough of Culture education programme and would like to get involved in the new Cultural Education Partnership as CEP Lead for your school please subscribe here

LBWF Artists in schools' database

The London Borough of Culture 19 is bringing many opportunities for artists to work with schools and develop arts projects. A data base of local artists wanting to work for schools as a reference resource and I can circulate details of this to schools during the grants round application process. If you know of artists who would find this useful please pass on this survey link.